Tong Huaqiong reincarnated into the body of this venomous woman at the moment the woman died, reborn at the time when the malicious woman continued her misconduct.
Such a person actually allowed her to be reborn.
Tong Huaqiong felt that being reborn into such a wicked woman was Heaven's mistake, punishing the wrong person.
Just because she rejected a classmate's confession before coming here, did Heaven really need to punish her so harshly?
"Mother, are you okay?"
"Mother, you scared me to death these past two days."
The two bad bamboo next to her propped Tong Huaqiong up to sit, calling her "Mother," which was unnerving to hear.
Tong Huaqiong leaned grimly against the pillow.
The young woman who protected the girl from being hit, who was also Chen Sufen, the daughter-in-law, shook as she brought in a bowl of medicine.
"You're so slow bringing medicine, do you want Mother to die?" Gu Dashu harshly remarked.
The obese daughter, Gu Taohua, snatched the medicine bowl from Chen Sufen's hands and forcefully poured it into Tong Huaqiong's mouth.
The bitterness of the medicine made Tong Huaqiong's eyes even gloomier.
To Chen Sufen, this looked as if her mother-in-law was about to explode.
Frightened, Chen Sufen dropped to her knees by the bed, crying breathlessly, "Mother, I shouldn't have pushed you. You can beat me or scold me, I just beg you not to send Man Er to the Zheng Family, that's a pit of fire."
Tong Huaqiong hadn't decided how to respond when the third-generation bad bamboo grandson, Yaozu, dragged the granddaughter, Man Er, into the room.
Man Er was forced to kneel next to her mother, Chen Sufen, her small body trembling, face wet with tears.
Old venomous woman!
Absolutely inhumane!
This six-year-old bean sprout of a girl was actually going to be sold to the Zheng Family as a bride.
This matter started with the youngest son of the Gu Family, Gu Jingzhe.
Gu Jingzhe had some talent for studying and had recently passed the county examination to become a child student. For the Gu Family, farmers for eight generations, this was like smoke rising from their ancestors' graves, a reason for Tong Dajiao to boast greatly.
Gu Jingzhe himself also boasted, suddenly feeling that the private school in town could no longer contain him, a big lucky koi, insisting on going to Wanliu Academy in the capital city.
The tuition at Wanliu Academy was not low, and the Gu Family couldn't afford it.
Gu Jingzhe painted a picture for Tong Huaqiong, saying Wanliu Academy was top-ranked in the Great Yan Kingdom, with half of the country's talents coming from there. Studying there meant strong connections for future imperial exams, not to mention the mentorship.
Without connections in the court, even if you became a Champion Scholar, you might be sent to distant areas to struggle; how could his dream of earning titles and positions for his mother be quickly realized?
Hearing this, Tong Dajiao patted her thigh and excitedly declared that her filial son must go to Wanliu Academy for his mother's sake.
Even without conditions, they must create them to go.
Tong Dajiao tallied up the family's assets: a few mud houses couldn't be sold, or else where would the family live; a few acres of land couldn't be sold, or else what would they eat? All they could sell were a pig, a flock of laying hens, and a dozen bushels of grain, but that still wasn't enough for her son's half-year expenses at Wanliu Academy!
Gu Jingzhe said it wasn't hard to gather silver, let his sister marry and earn some dowry money, and it would be enough.
Tong Dajiao loved her daughter, but loved her son even more. Hearing Gu Jingzhe's proposal, she was tempted. But with Gu Taohua's stone-like body and explosive temper, no matchmaker was willing to find a match, even with silver added.
Gu Jingzhe said it wasn't hard, if good families didn't want Gu Taohua, then lesser families would. He had already found a match: the eighteen-year-old son of Scholar Zheng in the county, who wanted to marry for joy despite having tuberculosis.
When Gu Taohua learned her brother had decided to marry her off to a consumptive for good luck, she chased Gu Jingzhe for two miles with a knife.
Tong Dajiao couldn't bear to marry her daughter to someone with tuberculosis, so she turned her attention to Man Er.
She already planned to sell Man Er as a maid to a wealthy family in a few more years.
Now, sending Man Er to Scholar Zheng's family for good luck would be better than selling her as a maid, right?
Marrying for luck was marriage, and the Zheng Family was willing to spend silver, just the dowry alone was enough to send Gu Jingzhe to Wanliu Academy to study.
Man Er might be young, but she's easier to manipulate when she's younger.
The Zheng Family quickly agreed, and Tong Dajiao took the two hundred taels of silver, four measures of gold, and various fabrics from the Zheng Family, planning to send Man Er to them swiftly.
Seeing her daughter about to fall into the fire pit, Chen Sufen, usually submissive as a moldable figure, firmly blocked the door, not allowing Man Er to leave the Gu Family's gate.
Tong Dajiao slapped Chen Sufen twice, and Chen Sufen, risking everything for her daughter, smashed into her mother-in-law, sending the older woman crashing into the door frame.
Tong Dajiao was knocked unconscious on the spot.
"Sister-in-law, don't be ignorant, Man Er going to the Zheng Family is smoke rising from our ancestors' graves for the Gu Family. Once Man Er goes, she'll live a life of luxury, with gold slave servants and silver maids. How is that a pit of fire? That's a blessing nest," Gu Taohua coldly glanced at her sister-in-law, Chen Sufen.
"Taohua is right, the Zheng Family is a blessing nest. Where did you hear evil talk about fire pits, sister-in-law? If Gu Jingzhe wasn't admitted as a child student, this marriage wouldn't even be for the Gu Family. Sister-in-law, you're complaining, if my son Yaozu wasn't a boy, how could it be Man Er climbing this good marriage?"
Gu Dashu glanced at his son Yaozu, truly regretting that Yaozu wasn't a girl.
Otherwise, he'd be the dear father-in-law of the Eldest Young Master Zheng.
What if the daughter is young when married, what if she becomes a widow? Wouldn't she still live a life of luxury?
Sister-in-law just can't see clearly.
"Other people want to marry over and can't," Gu Taohua chimed in.
What a pity!
If the Eldest Young Master Zheng didn't have tuberculosis and wouldn't become a widow soon after marriage, she'd have gone for it herself without question.
What to do now?
Chen Sufen blocking Man Er from going to the Zheng Family, if the Zheng Family got upset and broke off the engagement, how would they end it?
She didn't care about her twin brother Gu Jingzhe's future, she cared about if things didn't work out and the Zheng Family demanded the return of the engagement gifts, her new clothes made from Zheng's engagement material would be gone.
She also planned to forge a necklace and two bracelets from the engagement's gold.
Sister-in-law's disruption meant the jewelry she'd counted on would fly away.
Chen Sufen took a breath; her sister-in-law spoke nicely, since the Zheng Family is a blessing nest, why didn't she marry?
She could only think this in her head, not dare say it aloud, for fear Man Er could not even stay in the Gu Family till tonight.
"Mother, Man Er must go to the Zheng Family. We've already received gifts from the Zheng Family; if Man Er doesn't go, I have to return this outfit, and the gold for the engagement, I've already told the town's jewelry store to come over and forge ornaments in a few days."
Gu Taohua's small mouth on her plump face opened and closed, buzzing and making Tong Huaqiong's head ache.
"Also, the Zheng Family's steward promised me a shopkeeper job at Zheng's shop, and Yaozu a study companion for Zheng's youngest son. If anyone disrupts our family's future, I'll settle accounts with them."
"This marriage cannot be broken off! Brother is not home, I'm in charge as the uncle."
Gu Dashu threatened Chen Sufen shamelessly.
Chen Sufen clung to Man Er, kneeling beside her, both pale and fallen to the ground in tears.
Tong Huaqiong wanted to slap the bad bamboo children.
With human lives at stake, one only thought about clothes and jewelry, the other only about his own and his son's future.
Unfortunately, just waking up, she couldn't lift her hand.
She deeply regretted not coming here while the bad bamboo were just born; she would have drowned the pair without hesitation.
"Shut up!"
Tong Huaqiong mustered her strength and shouted